Federal Government Now Employs the Fewest People Since 1966

[Ford]

Do private industries take over border defense as an economy grows? Do you need fewer schools and firemen? Fewer roads?


"I'm sorry, officer Krupke, but with the economy going so well, we need fewer police officers, so we'll have to let you go...but don't worry, there's a non-government job out there for you somewhere!"

Basic math fail: if the economy grows and the number of police officers stays the same, then the percent of the economy spent on police officers _shrinks_.

Reading comprehension fail.

 

[dismal]

it depends

it depends

Yes, it depends on things, but one thing it does not directly depend on is the size of the economy. You are arguing my point.

Let's imagine Saint Barack leaves the presidency, joins the Clinton Foundation and immediately discovers a new way to make cheaper energy from a mineral isotope found only in the Sonoran desert.

Worldwide sales of the mineral spur a rapid 30% growth in US GDP (real dollars, per capita).

Why would the US Government need 30% more money to provide the services it provides?

Keeping in mind the big buckets are things like Military, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Why would state and local governments across the nation need to spend 30% more to provide the services they provide?

 

[laughing dog]

In my view it is a pure fallacy to argue that government spending should be some fixed percent of the economy any way. As an economy grows government should be less and less of it.

This strikes me as a baseless assertion.

That's because it is an ideological assumption.

 

[dismal]

Good news:

US economy shrank 0.7% in first quarter

http://news.yahoo.com/us-economy-contracted-0-7-first-quarter-004338387.html

Now we need less government.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Of course it does. If you are educating children, you need to teach them about the things they will encounter when they become adults. To do this effectively requires access to those things - either in the schools, or on field trips - both of which cost more money in a more developed economy.

You can teach English or Arithmetic with a simple chalkboard, and a teacher with only those basic skills needed for the job. But teaching someone to use a computer effectively requires a computer; and teaching children a wide range of subjects (something that becomes more important as the economy grows) requires a range of specialist teachers, all of whom are more expensive, because in a growing economy there are increasingly lucrative non-teaching opportunities competing for them.

Beyond all that, there is the simple fact that GDP growth nearly always causes inflation, which means that nearly every single thing related to education costs more including the materials and labor to build and maintain schools, energy to heat and cool them, the cost of lunches, and the cost of standard teachers and all other employees.

No. GDP growth in excess of the growth in productivity causes inflation. Governments like inflation, though--it's a hidden tax. Thus we almost always have some.

 

[dismal]

Beyond all that, there is the simple fact that GDP growth nearly always causes inflation, which means that nearly every single thing related to education costs more including the materials and labor to build and maintain schools, energy to heat and cool them, the cost of lunches, and the cost of standard teachers and all other employees.

No. GDP growth in excess of the growth in productivity causes inflation. Governments like inflation, though--it's a hidden tax. Thus we almost always have some.

Inflation is a monetary phenomenon. It occurs when you grow money supply faster than GDP.

 

[Jayjay]

And robots.

You mentioned it twice. Is government spending on robots really significant compared to labor? Outside the military anyway.

 

[laughing dog]

Beyond all that, there is the simple fact that GDP growth nearly always causes inflation, which means that nearly every single thing related to education costs more including the materials and labor to build and maintain schools, energy to heat and cool them, the cost of lunches, and the cost of standard teachers and all other employees.

No. GDP growth in excess of the growth in productivity causes inflation. Governments like inflation, though--it's a hidden tax. Thus we almost always have some.

Real GDP cannot possibly grow faster than measured productivity because productivity is measured as output or GDP divided by labor (or hours worked). Nominal GDP can grow faster than productivity but this is the result of inflation not the cause of it.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

No. GDP growth in excess of the growth in productivity causes inflation. Governments like inflation, though--it's a hidden tax. Thus we almost always have some.

Inflation is a monetary phenomenon. It occurs when you grow money supply faster than GDP.

That would be true if GDP wasn't already measured in dollars.

 

[dismal]

And robots.

You mentioned it twice. Is government spending on robots really significant compared to labor? Outside the military anyway.

I would imagine they employ a lot fewer mail sorters and such than they once did.